




<!y%is goA^ 

■■ V. (7 



Class 


Rnnk ■ M44'7 
Ccpight}J?__Oi^ 




CDPmiGHT DEPOSIT. 




1 ^ 













* 








I 







THE CHAKIilE STORIES; 

Charlie and His Kitten Topsy 


f 


THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NKWYORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DAIXAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FKANCIECO 

MACMILLAN & CO.. LmrraD 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MXLBOUUIK 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OP CANADA. Ltd. 

TORONTO 




Charlie holds Jane and Topsy against their \vill 


Charlie and His Kitten Topsy 


WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED 
BY 

VIOLET MAXWELL 

AND 

HELEN HILL 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1922 


All rights reserved 


FEINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA 



/ 


OOPTRIOHT, 1922, 

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 


Set up and printed. Published August, 1922. 


Press of 

J. J. Little & Ives Company 
New York, U. S. A. 


SEP -6 1922 


(S0I.A681642 


TO 

ALICE VIRGINIA, 
AND JOHN 


# 







CONTENTS 


CONTENTS 

OHAPTEB PAQl 

I How Charlie Made Topsy Love Him . 1 

II Why Topsy Decided to Be a Kitten 

After All 14 

III How Charlie Became a Little Fish . 27 

IV How Charlie Took Root .... 39 

V How THE Wind Changed .... 49 

VI How Topsy Climbed a Tree .... 63 

VII How Charlie Grew Littler Instead op 

Bigger 74 


( 

), 

f 





ILLUSTRATIONS 

Charlie holds Jane and Topsy against their 

will F rontispiece 

PAGE 

The little giant girl picks up Charlie ... 5 

The kitten Topsy goes to live with the squirrels 19 

When Charlie was a little fish 33 

Charlie comes up by the roots 41 

Charlie looks crossly at the funny clown . • 56 

The fireman helps Topsy down the tree . . 72 

Charlie wakes up and finds his trousers have 

grown enormous 80 





THE CHARLIE STORIES I 

Charlie and His Kitten Topsy 



HOW CHARLIE MADE TOPSY 
LOVE HIM 

NCE upon a time there was a little 



boy called Charlie. He lived with 
his Mother and his Daddy and his Auntie 
in a house in the city with a big yard all 
around it. A cat called Jane and Jane’s 
kitten, whose name was Topsy, also lived in 
the house. 

Charlie was a good little boy and a nice 
little boy, and everybody liked him — ^that is 
everybody excepting Jane, the cat, and 


2 


CHARLIE 


Topsy, the kitten — and they did not like 
him at all. 

This was very sad, because Charlie loved 
Jane and Topsy more than anything else 
in the world excepting his Mother and his 
Daddy and his Auntie. He loved Jane and 
Topsy dreadfully much — one thousand 
times more than his electric train or his milk 
wagon or his big e-nor-mous flashlight! 
Yet Jane and Topsy did not like him at all 
and ran away whenever they saw him com- 
ing. And what do you think was the reason? 

I will tell you. Charlie liked that cat and 
that kitten so dreadfully much that he was 
never happy unless he was holding them 
tight in his arms and hugging and kissing 
them all day long! Whenever he saw them 
running on their own four legs he would 
grab them and squeeze them and bother 
them. Sometimes he would grab Jane and 
sometimes he would grab Topsy and some- 
times he would grab them both together! 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 


S 



But most of the time he got hold of Topsy 
alone because Topsy was little and couldn’t 
run away so fast. 

Again and again his Mother and his 
Auntie said to him, “Charlie, put that kitten 
down! Don’t you see that he doesn’t want 
to be held all the time? Let him run around 
and play. You wouldn’t like it if your 
Mother or your Auntie were to carry you 
around and hug you and kiss you all day 
long. Why don’t you play nicely with him? 


4 


CHARLIE 


Why don’t you run around and let him chase 
you ? A kitten loves to play with little boys ; 
he hkes to run about and scamper and 
jump, but he does not like to be picked up 
and carried all the time, any more than you 
would like it.” 

But Charlie would not hsten. He picked 
the kitten up all the time and he would not 
let him run around at all. He carried him 
around in his arms or he tucked him inside 
his blouse, and he bothered and teased him 
all day long. The kitten Topsy called 
out again and again — “Miaou, miaou, 
m-i-a-o-u.” Charlie paid no attention at all; 
he just went on bothering and teasing him. 

One day Charlie was walking around in 
the yard looking for Topsy. Topsy was 
hiding in the bushes near the fence. He was 
hiding because he did not want to be grabbed 
and kissed and hugged any longer. 

Charlie was hunting and hunting with his 
hand already held out to grab Topsy, when 


t 


t 


1 • 
J 

» 


» 




f 



.t- 


* 

• « 





i 


9 


♦ 


k • 


I 


4 



V' 


f 


r 








4 



4 



The little giant girl picks up Charlie 








ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 5 

suddenly— WHAT DO YOU THINK? 
A great big hand grabbed hold of Charlie! 
Yes, a great big hand grabbed hold of him 
by his trousers and lifted him clear off the 
ground and over the garden fence and a 
great BIG voice called out, “0-o-o-o-eee! 
What a darling, ducky, little tiny, weeny 
creature !” 

Charhe squirmed around to see what was 
holding him, and — you never can guess — it 
was a little giant girl. 

She was e-nor-mous — most twice as big as 
his Mother or his Auntie or his Daddy! 
But she was a pretty little giant girl; she 
had yellow hair tied with a blue bow, and 
she had blue eyes. 

She looked at Charlie all over and she 
called out again: “O-o-o-o, you little dar- 
ling thing. I’ll take you right home this 
minute.” And she began to run as fast as 
ever she could, still holding Charlie by his 
trousers, and his legs dangled and swung 


6 


CHARLIE 


backwards and forwards and his head wag- 
gled, so fast did the little giant girl run. 

Then he called out, “Let me down, let 
me down!” But the httle giant girl paid 
no attention at all. 

She ran and she ran till she came to her 
mother’s house and in at the front door, and 
as she ran she called out, “Mamma, Mam- 
ma! look what I’ve found — a darling, teeny 
little doll! And it’s alive! It walks and it 
talks. Mamma.” 

Then the little giant girl’s Mamma came 
downstairs and she looked at Charhe. 
“Isn’t it dear?"" she said, and she put him on 
the table. “You must take great care of it, 
and not tease it and drag it about.” 

But the little giant girl paid no attention. 
She poked Charlie in the middle of his back 
and said, “Walk, walk.” 

Her finger was very sharp, and it hurt 
Charlie, so he said, “Don’t. O-w! Don’t.” 

Then the little giant girl began to jump 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 


7 


up and down and to say, “O-o-o-o-eeee, 
isn’t it cute, Manama? I love him, I love 
him, and I’ll keep him forever and ever.” 

And she picked Charlie up high, high 
in the air, and she kissed him and she hugged 
him and she kissed him again — but Charlie 
did not like it at all. 

Then the little giant girl said, “I wonder 
if he can eat. Mamma. Wouldn’t it be fun 
if he can eat? I’ll go and get him a piece of 
cake.” She ran out of the room and she 
came back with a great e-nor-mous piece of 
cake and she gave it to Charlie. He was 
most awfully hungry, as it was long past 
dinner time, so he took the cake and began 
to eat. 

The little giant girl jumped up and down 
again and called out: “Look, Mamma, he 
can eat like a real live person. Oh, isn^t he 
cute?” Then she snatched the cake out of 
Charlie’s hand and held it above his head, 
while she sang in a laughing voice, “Don’t 


8 


CHARLIE 


you want some more? Wouldn’t you like 
some more? Do have some more.” 

Charlie was dreadfully hungry and he 
tried to grab the cake, but the little giant 
girl held it just high enough so that he could 
not reach it. No, he could not reach it at 
all, and he wanted that cake dreadfully 
much, he was so hungry. 

Then the little giant girl said, ‘T wonder 
if he goes to sleep. Mamma ; I’ll try and put 
him to sleep. You little cutie dear, you!” 
and she hugged him and she kissed him 
again and again. Then she wrapped him 
in her pocket handkerchief, which was most 
as big as a tablecloth, but it was very dirty. 
Charlie did not hke it at all. He kicked 
and he screamed, and he called out, ‘T don’t 
want to go to sleep; I don’t want to go to 
sleep.” But she pulled his legs straight and 
wrapped her handkerchief tight around him 
and paid no attention to his cries at all. 

Then she laid him down in the corner of 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 9 

the couch. And what do you think? Char- 
lie was so tired and so excited that he went 
fast asleep all in a minute. 

But he didn’t sleep long. He had hardly 
closed his eyes, when — whir-r-r-r, he found 
himself being snatched high, high in the air 
and the little giant girl’s voice shouted in 
his ear. “He was asleep. Mamma. He does 
everything just like me. He sleeps and he 
eats and he walks and he talks — Mamma, 
did you think that there was ever anything 
so darling in the world? I tell you what. 
Mamma, may I go over and show him to 
Sophie? Do let me, please. Mamma.” 

Ajid the little giant girl’s mamma said she 
might go over and show Charlie to Sophie, 
but she must mind and not stay long. 

Then the little giant girl unwound the 
handkerchief from around Charlie and she 
kissed him and hugged him again and again. 

Charlie kicked and he kicked, and cried 
out, ‘T want to go home; I want to go 


10 


CHARLIE 


homel” but the giant girl paid no attention 
at all. She only said, “Listen to the dar- 
ling noise he makes, Mamma — e-e-e-e-e-e-e 
— ^that’s the noise he makes. Mamma.” And 
she kissed Charlie again and again before 
she put him in her pocket, and started to run 
over to show him to Sophie. 

There were lots of things in the little giant 
girl’s pocket — doll’s clothes, and nails, and 
pencils, and little sharp stones, and they 
all joggled around while she ran, and hurt 
Charlie most dreadfully. 

He felt very unhappy and wondered if 
he would ever get home again and if he 
would ever see his Mother and his Daddy 
and his Auntie again. 

Then — suddenly, what do you think? He 
saw a little speck of light at the bottom of 
the little giant girl’s pocket. And the very 
next moment he fell right through and 
landed with a tremendous bang in the mid- 
dle of the road. The little giant girl had a 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 11 

hole in her pocket. And she went on run- 
ning and running and she never knew till 
she got to Sophie’s house that she had lost 
Charlie through that hole in her pocket! 

As for Charlie, you can guess how fast he 
ran. Why, he ran and he ran and he never 
stopped running till he got home and in at 
the garden gate. He rushed into the living 
room where his Mother and his Auntie were 
sitting, wondering where on earth Charlie 
could be. Jane and Topsy were also sitting 
there and when they saw Charlie they both 
scurried quick, quick, under the bookcase 
the very moment that he came into the 
door. 

“Oh, Mother!” said Charlie, and he was 
puflSng and blowing, so fast had he been 
running. “Oh, Mother! Oh, Auntie! A 
dreadful little giant girl caught me, and she 
hugged me and she kissed me and she bov- 
vered me and teased me, and I ran away — 
and here I am.” 


12 


CHARLIE 


Then he saw Jane and Topsy looking at 
him from under the bookcase, and he began 
to cry. “Oh, Mother, oh. Auntie, I don’t 
think Jane and Topsy will ever love me 
because I have hugged them and kissed them 
and teased them and bovvered them so — 
and I do love them so dreadfully much.” 

Then his Auntie said, “Cheer up, Charlie; 
go to my workbasket and I will show you 
how to make friends with Jane and Topsy.” 
She gave Charlie a ball of pink yarn and 
fixed it so that it would not unwind. Then 
she told Charlie to roll it round and round 
in front of the bookcase. Very soon a little 
black paw came out, then another, and an- 
other, and soon Topsy was dancing all over 
the room after the pink yarn. Sometimes 
he danced on all four legs, sometimes on 
his two back ones, sometimes he jumped 
sideways, and sometimes he jumped straight 
up in the air. He seemed to be having such 
a good time, that suddenly out popped Jane 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY IS 

from her hiding place and started to join 
the game. 

Well! never again did Charlie grab hold 
of Tjopsy or Jane against their will, never 
again did he carry Topsy around and pay 
no attention when the kitten called out, 
“Miaou, miaou.'’ 

No, From that day to this Charlie al- 
ways played nicely with Topsy and did the 
things he liked, so that Topsy loved Charlie 
more than anybody else and followed him 
around ever5rwhere. 




WHY TOPSY DECIDED TO BE A 
KITTEN AFTER ALL 

T opsy was a nice little kitten and a dear 
little kitten, but he was not always a 
good little kitten. For one thing, Topsy 
did not like having his face washed. 

Always and always when his Mother Jane 
wanted to wash his face, always and always 
Topsy would scamper off to play with Char- 
lie, so that Jane hardly ever was able to 
catch him to wash his face. 

Once it happened that Charlie went away 
to the country to visit his grandmother for 
a whole week. So Mother Jane had Topsy 

14 


CHARLIE AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 15 


all to herself without any in-ter-rup-tions 
from Charlie, and she could wash his face as 
much as ever she liked — and she did! But 
Topsy did not like it at all. 

One day his Mother Jane was washing 
Topsy’s face. She held him tight with all 
her four paws, and she twisted him this way 
and that way, while she washed his ears, and 
she licked him up and down until his fur 
stuck out all over him. And Topsy did not 
like it at all. 

“Miaou, miaou. Mother Jane, miaou, 
miaou, I don’t want to be washed. You’ve 
washed me three, four^ six times this morn- 
ing, and I don’t want to be washed again. 
Miaou, miaou!” 

Then Mother Jane said, digging her 
tongue here and there in his soft fur, 
“Topsy, you have got to be washed. You 
are a kitten, and kittens have got to be clean. 
All kittens are clean, and to be clean you’ve 
got to be washed.” 


16 


CHARLIE 


“Well, I wish I wasn’t a kitten then,” said 
Topsy crossly. “If being a kitten means be- 
ing washed all the time, I wonH be a kitten 
any longer!” and he jumped out of Mother 
Jane’s arms and scampered away. 

Yes, Topsy scampered away from his 
mother, and out of the garden gate, and 
away, all by himself, down the street, until 
he came to the big forest where his mother 
had told him a kitten must never go alone. 

But Topsy had made up his mind that he 
would not be a kitten any longer, though 
he did not know yet what he would be. 

First he came to the rabbits and Mother 
Rabbit popped her head out of her hole. 
“Hello, Topsy,” said she. “Where are you 
going to, frisking along so fast, all by your 
lonesome?” 

Topsy stopped, and flirted his tail. “I’ve 
decided that I am not going to be a kitten 
any longer. I want to be something else, but 
I don’t know what.” 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 17 

“Why not be a rabbit?’’ called out all the 
rabbits, “and come and live with us?” 

“I think that would be very nice,” said 
Topsy, and he stepped down into the rabbit 
burrow and bved with the rabbits and was 
a rabbit himself. 

But the baby rabbits could not get used 
to Topsy’s long tail and his short little ears. 
When the grown-up rabbits were not look- 
ing, they teased him and laughed at him, and 
said, “Who ever heard of a rabbit with lit- 
tle short ears and a long, long tail? Ha — ha 
— ha I What a funny rabbit you are!” 

Topsy did not like this at all. He did not 
like being laughed at. He thought of 
Charlie, and he thought of Mother Jane, 
and he thought of his friend Twinkle, the kit- 
ten who lived next door. Thejj never 
laughed at him or teased him, no, they were 
always ready to pet him and play with him. 

Nor did Topsy like the things that the 
rabbits had to eat — carrot and turnip tops 


18 


CHARLIE 



and lettuce leaves; but he had to eat them 
all the same, for Mother Rabbit was just as 
strict as his Mother Jane and made all the 
little rabbits, and Topsy too, eat up every- 
thing they had given them for dinner. 

Poor Topsy often thought of the de- 
licious, creamy milk, and the fish and the 
chopped meat that Charlie gave him to eat 
at home, and sometimes sponge cake, for a 
treat — he found that the rabbits had not 
even heard of sponge cake. 

So one day he went to Mother Rabbit, and 
said very politely, “I don’t think I want to 


0 


f 


4 


\ 


$ 


4 



» • 


# 







9 





4 


0 


« 

% 

^ * 









•• . 


<• 


4 > 


% 

% 




< 


% 


> 






^4 




4 


I 


9 



# ' 




* 








f 


» 


f 


« 

i 


f * 

I 



V 



f 





« 


I 



# 




4 



f 

V 



« 


9 


9 


« 


i 



4 «* V 

i* . - 



The kitten Topsy goes to live with the squirrels 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 19 

be a rabbit after all. I think that my ears 
are too short and my tail is too long, and they 
don’t seem to have changed at all since I 
started to be a rabbit. I think I had better 
be something else.” 

Mother Rabbit said, “All right, Topsy, 
run along, and good luck to you. Come and 
visit us some day.” 

So Topsy ran along, and Mother Squirrel 
called down to him from a great tall tree, 
“Hello, Topsy, where are you going, frisk- 
ing along all by your lonesome?” 

And Topsy said, “I don’t want to be a 
kitten any longer, or a rabbit, but I don’t 
know what I want to be.” 

Then all the squirrels called out, “Come 
and be a squirrel, Topsy, and live with usl” 

So Topsy climbed up in the tall tree and 
was a squirrel. All that day he played with 
the baby squirrels iip in the branches and 
that night he slept with them in a hole in 
the ground. 


20 


CHARLIE 


But the next day the leaves had begun to 
turn yellow, and the nuts began to fall off 
the trees, and it had begun to be fall. Then 
Mother Squirrel said, “All you squirrels, 
you have played around all through the sum- 
mer and now it is time for you to work, so 
that you will have enough to eat during the 
winter.” 

And she made all the baby squirrels, and 
Topsy too, as he was now a squirrel, pick 
up the nuts off the gound, and hide them in 
a hole in a tree where they could get at them 
when the winter had come and all the ground 
was covered with snow. 

But Topsy had never worked in his life 
and he did not know how to. He thought 
that the nuts made splendid playthings, and 
he rolled them around here and there, and 
dug up those that the squirrels had buried, 
until Mother Squirrel got very angry; and 
she said, “All right, Topsy, you can play 
around now, but when the winter has come 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 21 

and we all have to live in a hole in the tree, 
you will be sorry, because you will not have 
a thing to eat.” 

That made Topsy think. He did not like 
the idea of living in a hole all through the 
winter at all, and he did not like the thought 
of having nothing to eat ! 

He thought of his nice home, and the 
jolly winter months he might have had play- 
ing with Charlie in front of the fire, and he 
thought of Mother Jane lying on the hearth- 
rug, so warm and soft to cuddle up against 
when he wanted to go to sleep. He thought 
of all the breakfasts and suppers and din- 
ners that he would get without his having 
to do any work at all. 

So Topsy decided that he did not want 
to be a squirrel after all. He went to Mother 
Squirrel and said very politely: “Thank 
you very much for letting me stay with you 
— but I don’t think I would make a good 
squirrel. I can’t pick up things with my 


22 


CHARLIE 


paws the way the other squirrels can. I 
think I had better be something else.’’ 

And Mother Squirrel said, “All right, 
Topsy, run along, and good luck to you. 
Come and visit us again some day.” 

So Topsy ran along, and he came to the 
brook where the beavers lived. Mother 
Beaver looked up and said, “Hello, Topsy, 
where are you going, frisking along all by 
your lonesome?” 

Topsy said, “I don’t want to be a kitten 
any longer, or a rabbit, or a squirrel, and I 
don’t know what I want to be.” 

Then all the beavers said, “Come and live 
with us and be a beaver.” So Topsy went 
and lived with the beavers. 

All that day he lay on a rock, in the mid- 
dle of the brook, and he watched the beavers 
working, while he dabbled his paws in the 
water and jumped after dragon flies. 

But Mother Beaver said, “If you are go- 
ing to be a beaver, you must do as the 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 23 

beavers do, and not spend the day lazing in 
the sun. All beavers have to work, so come 
here where we are and help us to build this 
dam.” 

So Topsy had to work because he was a 
beaver. All day long he had to stand in 
the water, helping to build the dam. His 
poor little paws got cold and cramped, and 
his back hurt, but still he had to work. 

It did not take Topsy long to decide that 
he did not want to be a beaver at all. 

So he went to Mother Beaver and said 
very politely, “Thank you very much for 
letting me stay with you — but I don’t think 
I want to be a beaver, after all. I think that, 
as I was born a kitten, I had better stay 
one.” 

The Mother Beaver said, “I think you are 
quite right. Look at the part of the dam you 
have been building — it does not look like a 
dam at all! You had better run straight 
home to your mother. Good-by, Topsy, 


24 


CHARLIE 


good luck to you. Come and visit us again 
some day.” 

So Topsy ran straight home to his Mother 
Jane, as fast as his little legs could carry 
him. He rushed right into the dining room, 
and there lay Mother Jane on the hearthrug. 

And, my goodness! But Mother Jane 
was glad to see Topsy again — she was so 
glad that she did not scold him one single 
bit for running away. She just hugged him 
and licked him all over — and then, she be- 
gan to wash him. She held him tight with 
all her four paws, and she twisted him this 
way and that, while she washed his ears, and 
she licked him up and down until his fur 
stuck out all around him. But Topsy did 
not mind a bit, he was so glad to be home 
again with his mother — he just sang p-r-r-r- 
r-rrrr at the top of his lungs. 

Then, suddenly, he heard the front door 
open, and he heard the voice of Charlie’s 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 25 

Mother and his Auntie in the hall, and then 
he heard Charlie’s own little voice calling out, 
“Where’s my kitten Topsy?” Charles had 
just come back from the country! And 
Topsy dashed out of Mother Jane’s grasp, 
and hurled himself through the open door 
and climbed right up Charlie into his arms. 

Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie cried 
out, “Why, here is Topsy, back again!” 
They were most happy and relieved that he 
had come back. They had worried all the 
time that he was away, and they had not 
dared to tell Charlie that his kitten had dis- 
appeared, for he would have been so terribly 
un-happy. And now Topsy had come back 
after all. 

And never again did Topsy run away. 
Always, and always, after did he let Mother 
Jane wash him as much as ever she wanted 
to. Y es, until he was a big kitten and could 
wash his ownself, Topsy allowed Mother 


26 


CHARLIE 


Jane to wash him, and he never grumbled 
one little bit — so glad was he that he was a 
kitten and not a rabbit, or a squirrel, or a 
beaver. 




HOW CHARLIE BECAME A 
LITTLE FISH 


C HARLIE was a good little boy and a nice 
little boy. He was good most all the 
time, but one thing he did that was bad — he 
never would come out of the bathtub when 
his Mother or his Auntie were bathing him. 

Again and again they would say, “Charlie, 
will you get out of the bathtub and come and 
be dried?” And again and again he would 

27 


28 


CHARLIE 


wriggle out of their hands, which was easy, 
as he was all wet and slippery, and slip into 
the water again. And he’d splash and he’d 
splash, so that his Mother or his Auntie 
would get wet all over, and still he would 
not come out of the bathtub. The grocer 
would ring at the door, and the telephone 
would ring in the hall, and the kettle would 
boil over on the stove, and still Charlie would 
not come out of the bathtub. 

No wonder that his Mother and his Auntie 
got ex-as-per-a-ted, and did not hke giving 
Charlie his bath at all. So they took it in 
turns. One morning it was the Auntie’s 
turn, and after she had soaped him well, and 
washed his back and behind his ears, and 
given him three minutes to splash about in, 
she said, “Now, Charlie, hop out and I’ll dry 
you.” And she said it again and again. But 
Charlie would not come out. He wriggled 
about just like an eel, and he splashed and 
he splashed, so that his Auntie grot wet all 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 29 

over, and when at last she began to get ex- 
as-per-a-ted, and tried to catch hold of him, 
he yanked the bath towel out of her hand 
— and it fell splash into the water! 

So his Auntie had to go down to the linen 
closet and get another towel, and no wonder 
she was quite cross. She put her arm in the 
water and took the stopper out, and she put 
it in her pocket, so that Charlie should not 
put it in again, and at the door she turned 
and she said: “I wish you were a little fish 
instead of a little boy, and then you could 
live in the water always/^ Then she went 
downstairs to get the bath towel. 

But, O dear! The Auntie’s fairy god- 
mother must have been listening — for her 
wish came true. 

Suddenly Charlie saw the sides of the bath- 
tub get higher and higher, until they tow- 
ered above him like shining white cliffs. And 
he found that he was no longer sitting on 
the bottom of the tub, but instead he was 


so 


CHARLIE 


swimming in the water. And the bathtub 
seemed to have grown ENORMOUS. 

But it was Charlie who had become little; 
he had become a fish. The water swirled 
and swirled, for it was draining out through 
the waste pipe because the Auntie had 
taken the stopper out, and Charlie swam 
round and round nearer and nearer to the 
hole, and at last he went through with the 
last of the water and disappeared. 

Yes, he disappeared down the waste pipe. 
And when the Auntie came back there was 
no Charlie. She called and she called, and 
she hunted and she hunted upstairs and 
down, but she could not find Charlie. He 
had ab-so-lute-ly disappeared. 

Well, Charlie, who had become a fish, 
found himself swimming down a long dark 
tunnel, and he swam and he swam and still 
he swam, but he could not get to the end of 
that tunnel. He was dreadfully frightened 
and wondered if he would ever see the day- 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 31 

light again. And at last he did. He saw a 
little round patch of light green in front of 
him, and he soon got to the end of the tun- 
nel, and found himself in the river that was 
near his house. 

A lot of other fishes were swimming 
around in the water, and above him he could 
see big ships sailing by. 

As soon as they saw him, all the fishes 
came swimming up to him, and they said, 
“Hello, Charlie! So you are a fish now, and 
have come to live with us. Come along, we 
are going to swim to the ocean ; it is a grand 
day for swimming to-day.’’ 

But Charlie was only a very new fish; he 
could not swim nearly as fast as the other 
fishes; soon they had left him far behind, 
and he found himself all alone in the big 
river. 

He felt frightened and swam close up to 
the banks, where it did not seem quite so 
strange. He could see the water-front. 


32 


CHARLIE 


where he walked every day with his Mother 
and his Auntie, and he could see some httle 
girls and boys he knew playing about, while 
their mothers sat on the benches and watched 
them. 

He was watching them so hard that he 
never looked where he was going, until he 
swam plump into the hands of a little boy, 
who was sitting at the edge of the river dab- 
bling his hands in the water. The little boy 
was de-lighted. He called out, “I have 
caught a fish; I have caught a fish!” But 
then he saw what a very little fish it was 
that he had caught, and he knew that it was 
the right thing to put it back in the water 
again — ^when — what do you think? 

Charlie’s mother, who had finished her 
marketing, and was just taking a turn on 
the water-front before going home, passed 
by at the very moment that the boy was go- 
ing to throw the fish back in the water. 

And Charlie’s mother saw what a darling 




f 


a> 


•• 


4 





i 

I « 







4 


i 

* 


I 


I 


1 ^ 


1 


% 


X • 


4 

. I 



« 


# 


« 

\ 


» • 

/ 






« 


4 



1 



f - 

4 



» 




t. 






4 





I 


u 


J 





When Charlie was a little fish 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 33 

little fish it was, and she thought she would 
like to have that httle fish for her very own, 
so she said, “Don’t throw that fish back into 
the water. Give it to me, and I will give 
you thirty-nine cents for it. I want to keep 
it in a glass bowl, because it is so pretty.” 

Then the boy gave the fish to Charlie’s 
mother and she gave him thirty-nine cents. 
And she carried the fish home with her. 

But when she got home and heard how 
Charlie had ab-so-lute-ly disappeared and 
nobody could find him anywhere, she was 
very unhappy. But she did not forget to 
put the little fish in a glass bowl full of water, 
and she set it on the table in the living room ; 
then she sat down on a chair and cried, be- 
cause Charlie had disappeared, and so did 
his Auntie cry. 

So the days passed and Charlie was get- 
ting quite used to being a little fish. He 
lived in the glass bowl and his Mother fed 
him with bread crumbs — of course she did 


34 CHARLIE 

not know that the little fish was Charlie. He 
swam around in the bowl, and looked out 
through the glass side at the living room, and 
he could see his Mother and his Auntie, so 
sad, so sad, because he was no longer there ; 
he could see his toys in the comer of the 
room, his electric train, and his bricks, and 
the picture books his mother used to read 
to him at bedtime. And, oh! Charlie 
wished that he was a little boy again. 

Yes, Charlie felt very unhappy indeed, 
and he would have been still more unhappy 
if it had not been for his kitten Topsy. From 
the very first minute that Charlie’s Mother 
had brought the little fish home and put it 
in the glass bowl, Topsy had thought that 
there was something queer about that fish. 
He jumped up on the table and he patted the 
bowl with his paws, and he thought that there 
was something very queer indeed. And then 
one day he knew what it was — ^he recog-nized 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 35 

that the little fish in the glass bowl was Char- 
lie! After Topsy knew that the little fish 
was Charlie, he always, every day, jumped 
up on the table and lay beside the glass bowl, 
purring and purring. 

Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie were 
much surprised. They said, “What makes 
that kitten act like that? Why is he always 
sitting on the table, and patting with his 
paws on the glass bowl, and purring?” 

They could not understand it a bit. But 
it comforted Charlie very much to have 
Topsy sitting beside him all day long. 

One day his Mother and his Auntie were 
sitting together in the living room, and they 
were talking about Charlie. “Oh,” said his 
Auntie, “Charlie was such a nice little boy, 
he was such a good little boy, he was such a 
dear little boy, I wish he would come back 
from wherever he is and be our own little boy 
again.” 


36 


CHARLIE 



And what do you think? Again the 
Auntie’s fairy godmother must have been 
listening, for again she got her wish. 

Suddenly they heard a loud CRACK, and 
Topsy sprang up in the air, as the bowl in 
which the little fish had lived broke in two. 



ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY S7 

and the water streamed all over the table. 
And there was Charlie sitting on the edge 
of the table, without anything on him, and 
wet all over, just as he was when his Auntie 
had last seen himl 

The very next morning when his Auntie 
was bathing him, after she had soaped him 
and washed his back and behind his ears and 
given him three minutes to splash about in, 
she said, “Now, Charlie, hop out of the bath- 
tub and come and be dried.” And the very 
first time she said it, Charlie hopped right 
out of the water into the bath towel that she 
was holding ready for him. 

The Auntie was surprised and she said, 
“Oh, I wish you would always jump out of 
your bath, quick like that, when I tell you 
to.” 

And what do you think? Again the 
Auntie’s fairy godmother must have been lis- 
tening, for she got her wish. Always and 
always after that Charlie came jumping 


S8 


CHARLIE 


straight out of the bathtub the very first mo- 
ment that his Mother or his Auntie told him 
to. 



HOW CHARLIE TOOK ROOT 


C HARLIE was a nice little boy and a dear 
little boy — but for one thing. Always 
when Charlie went for a walk with his 
Mother and his Auntie, always and always 
he lagged behind, and he dragged his feet, 
and he walked so slowly, so slowly, that his 

39 


40 


CHARLIE 


Mother and his Auntie got quite ex-as-per- 
a-ted. Again and again his Mother and his 
Auntie said to him, “Hurry up, Charlie; 
donH lag behind, don^t drag your feet, do 
walk up — ^we are late for dinner.” 

Charlie would pay no attention at all. He 
would just walk slower and slower and still 
slower until he didn’t seem to be walking at 
all. 

One day Charlie was out walking with his 
Auntie in the park. As always his Auntie 
was in front, and way, way behind walked 
Charlie — agoing along so slowly, dragging 
his feet, and walking so slowly that he hardly 
seemed to be moving at all. Again and again 
his Auntie turned round and called out: 
“Hurry up Charlie, do — we are five — six — 
seven minutes late for dinner ! Lift up your 
feet and walk fast.” 

But Charlie walked slower and slower and 
he almost seemed to stand still, so slowly 
did he walk. 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 41 

Then his Auntie began to feel quite cross 
with Charlie and at last she called out in an 
ex-as-per-a-ted voice, ‘T declare to goodness, 
Charlie, if you don’t move your feet a little 
faster you will take root, and maybe grow 
into a httle tree instead of a little boy.” 

But Charlie paid no attention at all. 
Slowly he lifted one foot, and then he tried to 
lift the other — when, what do you think? 
He found that he could not — his foot had 
stuck fast. 

Charlie pulled and he pulled, but his foot 
would not come loose. Then Charlie got 
quite scared and he called out, “Auntie, 
Auntie, do come and help me — my foot has 
got stuck and I can’t get it loose.” 

Of course his Auntie came hurrying back 
immediately, and she took hold of Charlie 
and she pulled and she pulled, but she could 
not make his foot move one little bit — he 
was stuck hard and fast. Yes, Charlie’s foot 
had taken root. 


42 


CHARLIE 


At last his Auntie said — and she was puff- 
ing and blowing and her face was quite red, 
so hard had she been pulling — “I just can't 
do it, Charlie. I will have to try and dig 
you up.” 

Then she took Charlie’s spade and she be- 
gan to dig him up. And she dug and she 
dug and — suddenly a great big voice boomed 
out, “What are you doing?” And there was 
the Park Policeman looking down at Charhe 
and his Auntie with an awful frown on his 
face. 

His Auntie began to explain and she said, 
“This little boy has taken root because he 
was walking so slowly, so slowly, and I am 
trying to dig him up again.” 

But the Policeman said, “Haven’t you 
read the rules? It is against the law to dig 
up anything in the park and if you go on do- 
ing it I will take you straight to prison.” 

Then Charlie’s Auntie began to cry, and 
she said: “Oh, dear Mr. Policeman, please 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 


43 



let me dig up Charlie ! He does not belong 
in the park, really and truly he does not — 
he has only just taken root.” 

But the Policeman shook his head still 
harder, and said in a loud and haughty voice, 
“It is against the law.” 

So poor Charlie had to stay all by himself 
in the park, while his Auntie hurried home 
to tell his Mother and his Daddy and Topsy 
and Jane of the terrible thing that had hap^ 
pened to him. 


44 


CHARLIE 


And they all put their heads together and 
they thought and they thought about what 
they should do to get Charlie home again — 
and nobody could think of a single thing. 

Every morning Charlie’s Mother and his 
Auntie came and brought him his breakfast, 
and they brought his dinner and his supper, 
too. All through the day either his Mother 
or his Auntie sat beside him and they told 
him stories to amuse him. They also brought 
the kitten Topsy to play with him. 

But when the sun went down behind the 
trees his Mother and his Auntie had to kiss 
Charlie “Good night,” and go home, be- 
cause the park gates were always locked at 
night. 

Poor Charlie! Do you think he had to 
stay all by himself in the park after his 
Mother and his Auntie had gone home? 

No, he did not. The kitten Topsy never 
went home. All through the night he 
stayed with Charlie, and when he had played 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 45 

around enough and climbed all the trees he 
curled himself upon Charlie’s foot — ^the one 
that was stuck in the ground — and went to 
sleep. 

And every morning, as soon as the sun 
woke up, Topsy the kitten woke up, too — 
and what do you think? The moment he 
woke up, Topsy began to dig around 
Charlie’s foot. Every morning he dug and 
he dug. His little paws were very weak and 
the ground was very hard, so he could only 
dig a little tiny bit every day, because as soon 
as the Park Policeman woke up and came to 
walk in the park, Topsy had to leave off dig- 
ging or the Policeman would have chased 
him away — as it is against the law to dig in 
the park. 

Yes, every morning as soon as the sun got 
up, Topsy started digging around Charlie’s 
foot, and the squirrels in the park came up 
to see what was going on and soon they be- 
gan to dig too. Little by little the earth got 


46 CHARLIE 

looser and looser around Charlie’s foot. 
And the Park Policeman did not know one 
thing about it. 

One day, early in the morning, Charlie’s 
Mother and his Auntie came to see him in 
the park, and they brought his breakfast — 
and they brought his dinner, too. Charlie 
saw that both his Mother and his Auntie had 
on their best clothes, and it was not Sunday 
either. 

Then his Mother said: “Charlie, we will 
be away all day. We are going to say good- 
by to Grandmamma ; to-morrow she is going 
to the seaside and we must tell her that we 
cannot go with her this year, as we can not 
leave you growing all by yourself in the 
park.” 

When he heard this Charlie felt most 
dreadfully sad. Every single summer he 
and his Mother and his Auntie went with his 
Grandmamma to the seaside, and all through 
the fall and the winter and the spring Charlie 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 47 

would look forward and count the weeks 
until it would be summer again and time to 
go to the seaside. And now he couldn’t go ! 

His Mother and his Auntie kissed him 
good-by and began to walk away, and 
Charlie dreadfully wanted to go, too. 

He began to pull at his foot — and he 
pulled and he pulled. The earth was nice 
and loose where Topsy and the squirrels had 
dug around him — and he pulled and he 
pulled and he PULLED — and — his foot 
came up hy the roots! Yes, it did. There 
was Charlie standing with both feet above 
ground and the foot that had been stuck in 
the earth had hundreds of little thin roots 
growing out of it. But they all fell off when 
Charlie shook his foot. 

Then he began to run after his Mother 
and his Auntie, calling out at the top of his 
lungs, “Mother, Auntie, stop for me, stop 
for me.” 

So his Mother and his Auntie turned 


48 


CHARLIE 


round, and, my goodness ! — how surprised 
and excited they were when they saw Charlie 
running toward them and the kitten Topsy 
running after Charlie. 

Well, Charlie and his Mother and his 
Auntie did go to the seaside after all, and 
of course Topsy went, too. Charlie carried 
him himself in a nice little basket, all the 
time they were on the train, and Topsy did 
not like that part of it at all. But he loved 
it once they got to the seaside as much as 
Charlie did, and you can believe that the two 
of them had the grandest time digging in the 
sand. 

But never again, no never did Charlie lag 
behind when he was out walking with his 
Mother and his Auntie — never, never, did 
he lift one foot slowly after the other. No, 
indeed, for months afterward if Charlie had 
to stand still even for a little while he used 
to jump from one foot to the other, so afraid 
was he of taking root again. 


HOW THE WIND CHANGED 



HARLIE was a good little boy and a dear 


little boy — but for one thing. He al- 
most always got out on the wrong side of his 
bed. And when Charlie got out of the wrong 
side of his bed, he would come down to break- 
fast looking as cross as cross could be — he 


50 


CHARLIE 


would scowl at his oatmeal and glare at his 
glass of milk, until his Mother and his Daddy 
and his Auntie felt most sad and most de- 
pressed. 

It is true that long before Charlie had fin- 
ished his glass of milk, and started in on his 
bread and honey, he would begin being 
cheerful and merry and go on being cheer- 
ful and merry all through the day, but his 
cross face when he said, “Good morning” 
made his Mother and his Daddy and his 
Auntie feel sad all the same. 

Again and again his Mother and his 
Auntie said to him: “Charlie, do try not to 
get out on the wrong side of your bed. It 
does make us so sad and so de-pressed when 
we see you come down to breakfast with a 
cross look on your face. Do try as hard as 
ever you can always to get out on the right 
side and come down to breakfast with a 
jolly smile on your face.” 

But Charlie paid no attention at all. He 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 51 

just went on getting out on the wrong side 
of his bed and coming down to breakfast as 
cross as cross could be. 

One day Charlie got out of bed most 
dreadfully much on the wrong side — ^maybe 
he had eaten too much candy the night be- 
fore, but anyhow he was crosser than he had 
ever been in his life. 

He came down to breakfast and his face 
was all screwed up in a most terrible frown, 
and he stood in the doorway and scowled at 
his Mother and his Daddy and his Auntie. 
And he did not say, “Good morning” to any- 
body at all. 

Then his Auntie said, “Oh, Charlie, what 
an awful face. Hurry up and smile, or 
maybe the wind will change and you will 
stay looking just as you look now!” 

But Charlie paid no attention at all. He 
just looked as cross as cross could be — ^he 
looked cross enough to scare anybody. His 
mouth was all drawn down at the corners. 


52 


CHARLIE 


and his eyes were all screwed up under his 
eyebrows, and he wouldn’t look at his 
Mother or his Daddy or his Auntie at all. 

No, Charlie looked straight out of the 
window, and he kept his back turned to his 
Mother and his Daddy and his Auntie. He 
wouldn’t look at anything on the table, not 
at his oatmeal or his milk or even his bread 
and honey; he just went on looking out of 
the window. 

Yes, Charlie looked out of the window, and 
he could see the garage and he could see the 
weather vane on the roof of the garage. 
The weather vane was pointing to the south- 
west and Charlie glared at the weather vane 
with a most fer-o-cious glare, when suddenly 
— what do you think? That weather vane 
turned all the way round. Yes, the weather 
vane turned around and around, until it 
pointed to the northeast. The wind had 
changed ! It looked so funny swirhng 
around that Charlie wanted to laugh right 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 53 

out; he did not feel one tiny bit cross any 
more. He turned around to his Mother to 
tell her to look at the funny old weather vane, 
when he saw himself in the looking glass at 
the back of the sideboard — and what do you 
think? Though Charlie did not feel one 
tiny bit cross any more, his face was still all 
screwed up in a most fer-o-cious scowl. Yes, 
sir — ^the wind had changed and Charlie’s face 
had stayed the way it was ! 

Try as he could, Charlie could not look 
happy or pleasant. There he sat, scowling 
at his oatmeal and glaring at his glass of 
milk, so that everybody felt sad and most de- 
pressed. 

When breakfast was over and his Daddy 
had to go off to business, Charlie was still 
looking as cross as cross could be. And his 
Daddy said good-by to his Mother and his 
Auntie, but he did not say good-by to 
Charlie. He did not want to say good-by 
to such a cross-looking little boy. 


54 


CHARLIE 


Always and always when Charlie had fin- 
ished his breakfast, first thing he went into 
the kitchen to give Topsy the kitten Ms 
breakfast. But on this morning, when 
Topsy saw Charlie coming with that awful 
cross look on his face, he was so scared that 
he crawled right under the kitchen stove and 
he wouldn’t come out, no matter how much 
Charlie called him and held out his saucer 
of cream to him. No, Topsy would not come 
out from under the kitchen stove until 
Charlie went out of the kitchen, so fright- 
ened was he at Charlie’s terrible scowl. 

Poor Charlie began to feel very miserable, 
for his Mother and his Auntie would not be 
nice to him, because he looked so dreadfully 
cross. Again and again his Mother and his 
Auntie said, ‘‘We won’t do a single thing for 
a little boy with such a cross look on his face. 
As soon as you are a cheerful little boy and 
a pleasant little boy again, your Mother and 
your Auntie will be nice to you and tell you 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 55 

stories and think up nice things to amuse 
you/’ 

But of course Charlie could not look pleas- 
ant. How could he when the wind had 
changed and made his face stay the way it 
was when he was scowling so terribly? 

So he just had to sit down on a chair and 
look out of the window, and he felt ab-so- 
lute-ly MISERABLE. 

When Charlie had been miserable for 
hours and hours there came a ring at the 
doorbell, and of course he ran downstairs 
to see who it was and — what do you think? 
It was Charlie’s Uncle Jim who lived way 
out west I Two, three, sometimes four times 
a year Uncle Jim came east and visited 
Charlie’s Mother and his Daddy and his 
Auntie. 

Uncle Jim liked Charlie most awfully 
much and he always gave him a perfectly 
grand time whenever he came on a visit. 

So when Charlie saw who it was, he forgot 


56 


CHARLIE 


how miserable he was, and he rushed to Uncle 
Jim and flung himself into his arms. 

Of course his Uncle looked most surprised 
and shocked when he saw the awful scowl on 
Charlie’s face — he almost always came down 
late to breakfast, so he did not know that 
Charlie ever looked like that. He said, 
“Hello, old Scout — what’s troubling you? 
Do you think this will cheer you up ?” And 
he drew two tickets out of his pocket — ^yes, 
they were two tickets for the circus! 

The tickets were for that very afternoon, 
so, though Charlie was still looking as cross 
as ever, as soon as ever dinner was over 
Uncle Jim and Charlie went to the circus. 

Of course the circus was wonderful, and 
Charlie and Uncle Jim sat in the very first 
row. The clown was the funniest clown that 
anybody ever did see and everybody was 
laughing as hard as they could. 

That is everybody but Charlie. There he 
sat, looking as cross as cross could be, and 







c*y 


-O-^ . 

^ V,*w- . ■■’^ 

V 

Charlie looks crossly at the funny clown 







I 


% 



\ 






f 




% 




f • 


4 


# 


I 



I. 


1 


t 











9 * 











k 





■ 




.j 


-« 


l» 




« 


\ 


I 

4 


A 


% 


4 


♦A'** 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 57 

his mouth was all drawn down and his fore- 
head screwed up so that he looked the Gross- 
est little boy that ever was. 

At last his Uncle Jim said to him, 
“Charlie, I don’t believe you are enjoying the 
circus one bit — I think we had better go 
away.” 

And Charlie said again and again, “I do 
like it; I like it most awfully. I do, I do, I 
DO.” 

But when his Uncle Jim saw him still look- 
ing so cross he could not believe it, and he 
got up and went out of the circus and Charlie 
had to follow. 

Then Uncle Jim said, “Let’s go and have 
something nice to eat.” So he went into a 
candy shop. They sat down at a little round 
table, and Uncle Jim said, “What do you 
like to eat more than anything else?” 

And Charlie said, “I like hot chocolate 
and whipped cream and sponge cake more 
than anything else in the world.” 


58 


CHARLIE 


So the waitress brought two cups of choco- 
late, all foaming and white with the whipped 
cream, and two plates with big pieces of 
sponge cake. Charlie took a big bite of 
sponge cake and it was most delicious, and 
he took a sip of chocolate and it was more 
delicious yet. 

But do you think he looked as if it tasted 
good? No, he did not. Charlie scowled so 
dreadfully at the delicious chocolate and at 
the sponge cake that Uncle Jim began to get 
worried, and he said, “Charlie, I don’t be- 
lieve that you like that chocolate or that 
sponge cake one little bit. I think we had 
better go home.” 

But though Charlie said again and again, 
“Oh, I love it; I think it’s most delicious. 
It is the most delicious chocolate I ever 
tasted,” his Uncle Jim could not believe him 
— how could he when Charlie looked so 
cross? 

So his Uncle Jim got up and left the candy 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 59 

shop to go home, and Charlie had to follow, 
though he had taken only one sip of his de- 
licious chocolate and one bite of sponge cake. 

Yes, Uncle Jim took Charlie home and he 
told Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie how 
cross and unhappy he had been, and how he 
had not enjoyed the circus, or the chocolate 
and whipped cream, or the sponge cake one 
little bit. 

Then his Mother and his Auntie were 
quite worried. And his Mother said, “It is 
strange. Charlie has been cross all day. I 
am afraid he is sick; I will give him some 
castor oil and put him to bed, and if he is 
not better in the morning I will send for the 
doctor.” 

So Charlie’s Mother gave him some nasty 
horrid castor oil and put him to bed, and he 
was so unhappy that he went to sleep. 

He slept and he slept and he didn’t wake 
up until next morning. And it was dread- 
fully late. It was so late that Topsy the kit- 


60 


CHARLIE 


ten came up to see what had happened to 
Charlie, and climbed up on the bed and 
tickled him under the chin with his paw. 
And that is what woke Charlie up. The sun 
was shining in at the window, and down- 
stairs he could hear his Mother and his 
Daddy and his Auntie eating their break- 
fast in the dining room. It certainly was 
most awfully late. 

Charlie sprang out of bed and he was in 
such a hurry that he got out on the right 
side. He started putting on his stockings, 
when he remembered the dreadful thing that 
had happened to him yesterday. You can be 
sure that he jumped up quickly and looked 
into the looking glass. And it was a jolly, 
laughing face that he saw in the glass — the 
scowl had gone, Charley was puzzled and 
he looked out of the window at the weather 
vane. Yes, the wind had changed again and 
was now pointing to the west. 

Charley felt so happy that he ran down to 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 61 

the dining room, and he was still in his night 
clothes. He rushed up to his Mother and 
hugged her tight, then he hugged his Daddy, 
and then he hugged his Auntie — and weren’t 
they just pleased when they saw their little 
Charlie looking jolly and happy again! 

Then Uncle Jim came downstairs. I told 
you he was always late for breakfast; and he 
said, “Hello, old Scout. You seem to be 
feeling pretty good this morning. How 
would it be if we had our party all over 
again to-day?” 

And so they did. Charlie and Uncle Jim 
went to the circus again that very afternoon. 
Again they sat in the first row and the clown 
was funnier than ever. And — ^the conjuror 
man, when he saw what a jolly-looking lit- 
tle boy Charlie was, ac-tu-ally borrowed 
Charlie’s pocket handkerchief in front of 
everybody and made a live rabbit come out 
of it! 

When the circus was over they went to 


62 


CHARLIE 



the candy shop and had hot chocolate with 
whipped cream, and sponge cake. Charlie 
had two cups of chocolate and three pieces of 
sponge cake — and yet he did not feel sick 
one little bit. 

But never again — no^ never — did Charlie 
get out of the wrong side of his bed and come 
down to breakfast with a nasty cross scowl 
on his face. No, indeed he did not, for sup- 
posing the wind should change again — and 
never change back I 





HOW TOPSY CLIMBED A TREE 

C harlie’s kitten Topsy was a nice little 
kitten and a dear little kitten, but he 
was not always a good little kitten. No, 
Topsy did not always do what his Mother 
Jane told him to, and sometimes he got into 
trouble. 

One day Charlie had a cold and he had to 

63 


64 


CHARLIE 


stay in the house all the morning. It was a 
sunny day, and Charlie’s Mother and his 
Auntie said that it was not good for Topsy 
to stay in the house all day with Charlie; 
they said he ought to go out and play in the 
sun, so they put him out in the garden and 
shut the door. 

Topsy did not like to be shut out in the 
garden without Charlie to play with ; he did 
not know what to do with himself. He tried 
to play with his Mother Jane, but Jane was 
lying dozing in the sun. She was very com- 
fortable, and she did not want to run around 
and play with Topsy; she wanted to sleep. 
When Topsy scampered around her and 
tickled her ears and pulled her tail, Jane 
boxed his ears, so that he should leave her in 
peace. 

Then Topsy walked off and he walked up 
and down the garden path, and dug a hole 
here and a hole there, and he felt most aw- 
fully bored. 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 65 

Suddenly he heard a sound, something be- 
tween a p-r-r-r and a m-i- m-i-a-o-u. He 
looked up, and there was the kitten who lived 
next door, standing on the fence. When she 
saw Topsy she jumped down and arched her 
back and came dancing sideways up to Topsy 
— and in two and a half seconds they had 
made friends. 

The next door kitten’s name was Twinkle, 
and she was a little bigger than Topsy. She 
said to him in kitten language, “Let’s play 
tag.” 

So they started to play tag. Charlie was 
looking out of the dining room window, and 
he saw Twinkle and Topsy chasing each 
other down the garden paths. Twinkle 
could run the faster, as she was thin and long- 
legged, while Topsy was plump and round- 
about. But one time, when Twinkle had 
stopped to sniff at a daffodil, Topsy very 
nearly got her, so nearly that his whiskers 
brushed her tail, and he was just going to 


66 


CHARLIE 


call out “Tag” when — what do you think? 
Twinkle was up in a tree and laughing at 
Topsy through the branches. 

“Oh, Twinkle,” cried Topsy in amaze- 
ment, “when did you learn how to climb a 
tree? I want to climb, too; I want to climb, 
too. Show me how. Twinkle, please 

So Twinkle climbed down the tree and she 
said, “It’s quite easy, Topsy; see here, first 
you put one paw up the tree, and then you 
put the other paw up, and then you put the 
third paw up, and then you put the fourth 
paw up, and then — scrabble, scrabble, scrab- 
ble, you are up the tree.” 

So Topsy put one paw up, and then he put 
the other paw up, and then he put the third 
paw up, and then — he fell plump to the 
ground again. He tried again and again, 
one paw up, two paws up, three paws up — 
and plump down to the ground again. 

Twinkle kept saying, “Oh stupid, it’s 
quite easy, watch me do it.” And up the 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 67 

tree she’d climb and down again, and it did 
look as easy, as easy. 

Then Mother Jane woke up and she saw 
what Topsy was trying to do. She said, 
“Topsy, do not try to climb that tree; you 
are too little to climb trees ; when you are as 
old as Twinkle you can climb all the trees 
you want to, but you are too little now. Run 
along and play a nice game with Twinkle, 
and leave that tree alone.” And she went 
off behind the barn and went to sleep again. 

But Topsy was de-ter-mined to climb that 
tree. He paid no attention to what his 
Mother had said to him, so de-ter-mined 
was he to climb that tree. 

Twinkle said to him, “Come along, Topsy, 
let’s chase that butterfly — ^you will never 
climb that tree. Besides, your mother told 
you not to.” 

But Topsy paid no attention at all. He 
went on trying to climb the tree, and Twin- 
kle went off to chase the butterfly by herself. 


68 


CHARLIE 


The butterfly flew over the fence, and Twin- 
kle went over after it — and still Topsy was 
trying to climb the tree. 

Again and again he tried — one paw up, 
two paws up, three paws up, but it always 
ended with ‘‘Four paws up and plump down 
to the ground again.” 

At last he gritted his little teeth, and he 
said, “I will do it!” and he dug his claws so 
hard into the bark, that — what do you think? 
Topsy did not fall plump down to the gound 
again. No, there was Topsy with all four 
paws stuck into the tree, and — scrabble, 
scrabble, scrabble, he was at the top of the 
tree! 

Oh, but he was a proud kitten. He called 
out, “Mother Jane, Twinkle, come quick! 
Look at me — I have climbed the tree.” 

Then Twinkle came climbing over the gar- 
den fence, and Mother Jane came running 
from behind the barn, and when they saw 
Topsy perched high up on the topmost 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 69 

branch Twinkle called out, “Oh, what a 
clever Topsy! See, he can climb a tree like 
a great big cat.” 

But Mother Jane was worried. She knew 
Topsy was too little to climb trees, so she 
said, “Oh, Topsy, you bad little cat! Did I 
not say that you were not to climb that tree? 
Come down immediately 

Well — Topsy looked down from the top 
branch of that great tall tree and the ground 
looked very far away. And he said in a 
very little, tiny voice, “I don’t know how to 
climb down.” 

“Oh!” cried Twinkle, jumping up and 
down and bobbing her tail, “it is easy, as 
easy. You put one paw down, and the other 
paw down, and the third paw down, and the 
fourth paw down — ^then scrabble, scrabble, 
scrabble, you run down the tree.” 

So Topsy put one paw down. But the 
ground looked so very far away, he was 
scared, and put his paw back again safely 


70 


CHARLIE 


on the brancb of the tree. Then he tried 
with the other front paw, but the ground 
looked just as far away — and Topsy covM 
not make up his mind to run down that great 
tall tree. 

Then Mother Jane went off to her dinner, 
feeling very worried, and Twinkle climbed 
over the fence, for her dinner was ready, too 
— but Topsy up in the tree did not have any 
dinner at alL 

He cried “M-i-a-o-u, m-i-a-o-u!” And 
when Jane came back and saw that Topsy 
was still up in the tree, she sat down and 
cried “M-i-a-o-u, m-i-a-o-u !” And they both 
went on crying, “M-i-a-o-u, m-i-a-o-u” until 
Charlie could not bear it any longer. 

He ran upstairs to his Mother and his 
Auntie and he told them all about it — ^how 
poor Topsy was up in the tree and he could 
not get down. 

His Mother and his Auntie said, “Oh, 
poor Topsy; we will see if we can get him 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 71 

down.” Then his Mother got the stepladder 
out of the kitchen and she carried it into the 
garden and propped it against the trunk of 
the tree and started to climb up it. But, O 
dear! The ladder was much too short, and 
even when his Mother stood on the topmost 
rung and stretched her arms way up, she 
could not even nearly reach up to where 
Topsy was miaouing away at the top of his 
lungs. 

Then his Auntie said, “What shall we do? 
I am sure that we can never get a stepladder 
long enough to reach up to the top of such 
a tall tree. Why, the only ladder that would 
be long enough is the fireman’s ladder!” At 
that the Mother and the Auntie looked at 
each other, and they both called out at the 
same time, “Why, that is an idea! We will 
telephone the Fire Department and see if 
they will help us.” 

So the Auntie went indoors and tele- 
phoned to the Fire Department. And — 


72 


CHARLIE 


what do you think? Five minutes after 
Charlie’s Aunt had telephoned there came a 
tremendous ringing of bells along the road, 
so that people flung open their windows and 
looked out, and little boys came dashing out 
of the houses — for it was a fire engine! 

And the Are engine stopped at Charlie’s 
gate, and a fireman got out, and he un- 
hooked the long ladder from the side of the 
engine, and shot it up against the tree where 
Topsy was. Then the flreman climbed up 
higher and higher until he reached the top of 
the tree, and he held out his hand and 
grabbed hold of Topsy, and swung him on 
to his shoulder, where the bad little kitten 
perched as proud as proud can be, and 
arched his back, and waved his tail, as if he 
had never been scared one little bit. 

Well, the fireman got safely down the 
tree with Topsy on his shoulder, and he 
shook hands with Charlie and asked him if 



The fireman helps Topsy down the tree 



m 







A 


.Jf 




'I 











f 





/ 


» 

■» 











I 










» 


• ^ 

#• 




I 




p 




* 


I 




) 


I 




« 


A 


ft' 




* 


I 

I 

# 

« 

< 














AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 73 

he was going to be a fireman when he grew 
up. 

My word! You should have seen how 
jealous all the little boys were who were 
looking over the fence; when they saw the 
fireman shaking hands with Charlie. 

As for Topsy, you may be sure that it was 
a long, long time before he climbed up that 
tree again. No, Topsy did not climb that 
tree again until he was a big kitten, and 
Mother Jane told him that he might. 



I 


HOW CHARLIE GREW LITTLER 
INSTEAD OF BIGGER 



HARLiE was a nice little boy and a good 


little boy — he was good every single 
minute of the day, when he came down to 
breakfast, when he had his bath, when he 
went for his walk, right up to when he was 
tucked up in his little white bed. And then 
— he was most dreadfully bad. For Charlie 
would not go to sleep. No, Charlie never 
would go to sleep. Night after night his 
Mother or his Auntie tucked him snugly 


74 


CHARLIE AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 75 


into his little white bed and kissed him good 
night. And night after night the very 
minute that his Mother or his Auntie had 
gone downstairs again Charlie would begin 



76 CHARLIE 

water.” Four, five, sicc times would Charlie 

call out that he wanted a drink of water! 

Again and again would his Mother and 
his Daddy and his Auntie say to Charlie, 
“Charlie, you must go to sleep. Little boys 
and little girls have to sleep a whole lot, be- 
cause they grow when they are asleep, and 
if they do not go to sleep at the proper time 
they will not grow big at all.” 

But Charlie paid no attention whatever. 
When he simply could not drink another 
glass of water, he would call out, “I want 
to kiss Daddy good night” — and then, “I 
want to kiss Mother good night” — and then, 
“I want to kiss Auntie good night” — and 
then, “I want to kiss Topsy good night” — 
and then, “I want to kiss Jane good 
night.” 

And when he had kissed them all good 
night, do you think Charlie would go to 
sleep then? He would not. No, Charlie was 
de-ter-mined not to go to sleep. So he would 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 


77 


sing to himself and talk to himself, to keep 
himself awake until his Mother and his 
Auntie and his Daddy came upstairs to 
bed. 

Night after night did Charlie act like this. 
Night after night did Charlie stay awake 
until his Mother and his Daddy and his 
Auntie came up to bed. 

One night Charlie was even more dread- 
fully bad than usual. He started being bad 
even before he was in bed! Yes, Charlie de- 
cided to himself that he would not go to bed 
at all. 

When his Mother said to him, ‘‘Charlie, it 
is time for you to go to bed. Put up your 
toys, kiss everybody good night, and come 
along up’’; Charlie began to whine, “I don’t 
want to go to bed, I don’t want to go to bed. 
I want to stay up five minutes more.” So 
his Mother and his Auntie and his Daddy let 
Charlie stay up five minutes more. But 
when the five minutes were up, Charlie still 


78 


CHARLIE 


would not go to bed. He began to cry and 
to whine, “I don’t want to go to bed. I don’t 
want to go to bed. Let me stay up another 
five minutes more.” 

But his Mother said, “No, it is time for all 
little boys to be in bed; hurry up now and 
put up your toys and come along.” 

But Charlie paid no attention at all. He 
went on crying and roaring, “I don’t want 
to go to bed, I don’t want to go to bed, I 
DON’T WANT TO GO TO BED,” until 
his Daddy became quite ex-as-per-a-ted, and 
called out in an angry voice, “Will you do 
as your Mother says? Put away your toys 
and GO TO BED!” 

Then Charlie, still crying and whining, 
began to put his toys away, but he put them 
away slowly, so slowly, one by one — he put 
them away so slowly that it would have taken 
him all night to put them all away. 

At last his Mother would not wait any 


4ND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 79 

longer, and she picked Charlie up and car- 
ried him up to bed. 

Do you think that Charlie was good then 
and went to sleep? He did not. 

Again and again Charlie called out, “I 
want a drink of water, I want a drink of 
water, I want a drink of water,” until his 
Mother and his Daddy and his Auntie got 
pains in their legs from going up and down 
the stairs so many times. 

And he called down that he wanted to kiss 
his Mother and his Daddy and his Auntie 
and Topsy and Jane, “Good night,” so often 
that it was almost time to kiss everybody 
“Good morning.” 

At last his Auntie came upstairs and she 
said to him: “Charlie, I have told you again 
and again, that little boys must go to sleep, 
so that they will grow into big boys. And I 
declare to goodness, if you go on being such 
a bad little boy, keeping awake all night and 


80 


CHARLIE 


never going to sleep till your Mother and 
your Daddy come up to bed, you will grow 
littler instead of bigger T 

But Charlie paid no attention at all — he 
still would not go to sleep. He talked and 
he sang to himself and tried to keep himself 
awake long after his Mother and his Auntie 
and his Daddy had gone to bed. 

I am afraid Charlie was most dreadfully 
bad. 

The next morning when Charlie came 
down to breakfast he looked very queer in- 
deed. What do you think? His trousers 
hung down way below his knees, and the 
sleeves of his blouse came nearly to the tips 
of his fingers, and his shoes stuck out way 
beyond his toes, so that his feet slid around 
in them. 

His Mother said, “Good gracious, Charlie! 
What is the matter with your clothes? The 
buttons of your trousers must have come 
undone.” 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 81 

But the buttons were all right. It was 
Charlie’s clothes that had become too big 
for Charlie. Charlie had started to grow 
littler. 

Then his Mother and his Auntie turned up 
the hem of his trousers and sewed tucks in 
the sleeves of his blouse, and they still 
looked big and baggy, but Charlie wore them 
all day. 

And that night Charlie was still as bad 
about going to sleep as ever ! 

The next morning when Charlie came 
down to breakfast his trousers again hung 
to the tops of his boots, and the sleeves of his 
blouse came to the tips of his fingers, in 
spite of his Mother having turned up the hem 
and taken a tuck in his sleeves the day before 
— and as for his shoes they were simply 
ENORMOUS! Charlie had grown littler 
again during the night. 

Then his Mother said, ‘T simply can’t 
make this suit any smaller; I will have to 


82 


CHARLIE 


go downtown and buy Charlie a new suit 
that will be small enough for him.” 

So his Mother took Charlie downtown to 
a department store, and she said to the sales- 
lady, “I want to buy a suit for this little 
boy. His own has grown too big for him.” 
The saleslady showed Charlie’s Mother 
one suit after another — but what do you 
think? They were all too big for Charlie, 
The trousers of all of them came way down 
to his shoe-tops, and the sleeves came down 
to the tips of his fingers. 

At last the saleslady said, “I simply have 
not got a suit that is small enough for your 
little boy. The only thing that I have that 
is small enough for him is a baby’s dress.” 
Then she brought the baby’s dress and tried 
it on Charlie, and it fitted him perfectly. 

After that Charlie’s Mother took him into 
the shoe store to buy him some new shoes, 
for his own were so dreadfully big that they 
kept falling off. But what do you think? 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 


83 



There were no real big boy shoes, small 
enough for Charlie. In the whole shoe store 
the only shoes that were small enough were 
a pair of baby’s shoes — and the soles were 
so thin that Charlie could not walk in them 
from the street car to the house, and his 
Mother had to carry him. 

When they got home, the first thing his 
Mother and his Auntie did was to go up to 
the attic and brin^ down the baby carriage 


84 


CHARLIE 


that Charlie used to go out in when he was 
a baby — and he had to take his walk sitting 
in the baby carriage. Yes, Charlie had be- 
come a little baby again! He felt very un- 
happy indeed; he did not like to be a baby 
one little bit. And his Mother and his 
Daddy and his Auntie felt very unhappy, 
too. The only person who was pleased about 
it was Jane, the cat, and she was very 
pleased. For Jane just loved little babies. 
She loved them when they were baby kittens 
and she loved them when they were baby 
children. Her own kitten Topsy was getting 
a big kitten; he could run most as fast as 
Jane, and he could wash his own face — he 
was no longer a baby kitten. So when 
Jane saw that Charlie had become a dar- 
ling little baby again she was awfully 
pleased. 

When Charlie came in from his drive in 
his pram his Mother had brought down the 
old baby guard and she had it all ready for 


ANB HIS KITTEN TOPSY 85 

him, on the bedroom floor, with a rug for him 
to play on. For his Mother and his Auntie 
did not think it safe for Charlie to run 
around as he wanted to, now that he had 
grown so small — ^they were afraid that he 
might fall downstairs. So they put him with 
his toys inside the guard, and immediately 
Jane jumped in after him and lay down be- 
side him on the rug, and she purred and she 
purred, so happy was she that Charlie was 
a dear little baby again. 

But she would not let Topsy inside the 
guard; no, she chased him away whenever 
he wanted to come in, because she thought 
he would be rough with Charlie and would 
not understand how to play with such a tiny 
baby. 

That evening when Charlie’s Mother had 
put him to bed and given him a bottle, just 
as if he were a really truly baby, she kissed 
him good night and went downstairs. Then 
Jane, the cat, came into the room and 


86 


CHARLIE 


jumped up on the armchair beside Charlie’s 
crib. She had come to watch over him, the 
way she used to watch over Topsy when he 
was a kitten. 

And — do you think that Charlie went to 
sleep now? He did not. He was deter- 
mined not to go to sleep. 

As soon as his Mother had got downstairs, 
he opened his mouth and began to cry, “I 

want a drink of wa ” but he got no 

further, for, what do you think? Jane, the 
cat, sprang right on to Charlie’s pillow and 
put her paw against his mouth, so that he 
could not make the leastest little sound. And 
she held it there until he stopped trying to 
cry. 

Jane knew that Charlie was being bad, and 
she was not going to allow it, any more than 
she used to allow her kitten Topsy to be 
bad and mew too loudly. 

Every time that Charlie tried to cry out. 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 87 
J ane put her paw against his mouth until he 
stopped. 

Soon he went to sleep, as he simply could 
not keep awake unless he could sing and talk 
to himself. Yes, Charlie ac-tu-ally went to 
sleep though it was only half past seven 
o’clock ! And he slept all through the night 
until it was time to get up in the morning. 

And then — when his Mother came in to 
dress him, what do you think? She could 
not button Charlie’s clothes in the back! No, 
she could not even make them meet enough 
to pin them with a safety pin. Charlie had 
started to grow during the night. 

So his Mother went and looked in her 
trunk and she found an old pair of rompers 
that Charlie had worn the summer before, 
and he wore them all day. 

That night when Charlie had been put 
to bed and Jane was sitting on the chair be- 
side him, Charlie was not quite so deter- 


88 


CHARLIE 


mined not to go to sleep. He thought that 
it was very disagreeable to grow littler in- 
stead of bigger, and it had been very nice to 
wear rompers that day instead of a little 
tiny baby’s dress. Besides, there was a look 
in Jane’s eye that made him think that he 
would not be allowed to keep himself awake 
by singing and talking, even if he tried to. 
So Charlie turned himself over on his side, 
snuggled into the bed clothes and was asleep 
in two minutes. 

The next morning when his Auntie came 
to dress him, Charlie had grown so big that 
he could not get into his rompers. 

So his Auntie got his old suit from the 
bureau drawer, the one he had grown too 
big for, and she put it on — but it did look 
funny! The legs of the trousers were so 
awfully short, because, as you remember, his 
Mother had turned the hem up when Charlie 
first began to get littler. So his Auntie had 
to let down the hem and take the tucks out 


AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY 89 

of the sleeves before Charlie could wear the 
suit at all. Then it fitted him perfectly, and 
so did his big boy shoes. Charlie had be- 
come as big as he ever was. 

And that night when he was snugly 
tucked up in bed and his Mother had kissed 
him good night, Charlie shut his eyes and 
went to sleep before ever his Mother had got 
downstairs again. 

And always and always after that Charlie 
went to sleep the very minute that his 
Mother or his Auntie had tucked him up and 
kissed him “Good night.” Never again, no 
never did Charlie try to keep himself awake 
by calling out for drinks of water, and for 
people to come up and kiss him “Good 
night” — because NEVER AGAIN, even 
to please Jane, the cat, did Char he want to 
grow littler instead of bigger. 

As for Topsy — you can believe that he was 
glad that Charlie was no longer a tiny baby, 
but could run about and play with him, and 


90 


CHARLIE 


chase him around the garden, and feed him 
his breakfast and his dinner and his supper, 
as he always did before he grew littler in- 
stead of bigger. 



•’ '-K 




t 

« 


$ 



m 




: T- 


V 


I 

V ^ 


t 


4. 

».'>■« > ; » , ■ ‘ 

•f -Li - 


'♦ 


.1 







:< ' • r^ '' 




<.■ 






• * .. 


« * 


\ 


• » 


' ’ ' % I * 

■n k /« w . '*■ ’ 

■ jV * 


T!rJ.v 


/V ■; . 

. iVi . ’*.■ 




♦ * ' 


r 




. I 

I 


> 


k' > • 


I 


\' ■ ■< r 

, ' * 


I 



I 


SJ. 




T 7 ^ *1 V ♦ 
f 


Vi 


4 




•• 

■' 


• t 


V 

7 . 


V‘ • * 
I < 


’ ^ V 

V J< 


t T '‘ - v,' . 


* V 




1 t 

I • *. 


* 

• . * H. V., ^ / 


<* 



sap 


>*?(? 


i • 

t 


f 

I 




*<■ 


1 


r 

t 4 


. i'! 


« ^ 


'W 


» ■ < ' 

« 

% 


\ 


.•4 


A, 


« k 


•9v 

» 

% 

. \ 


:J 


1 


•4 

I 

V 




,* 


•' *;•■ ’ 
i%i * 


#• 


^ 


, •> . 


iii- 


. '.*• 
•% ' 

U 


-1 • 

.* f . * 

' \ » 

( »» 



'■ ' .'“ij f *■• -'j 

'•••.: 'f i'‘«^ 

, :]rUlJ 



• t 


« r 




r 
• / 


; ^ 


•i 1 . 


1^ 


^ I 






• I *j 


• • 








t.. 


» 1 ¥.1* 




i ^ i 






1 f 


a; 

i* 


S -* 


A 


m 


» ** » / 

. -. *f % 4 

j V . F 

•/ 7 ? 


ft . I. t I 


\. 


t . 
f 


•> 


■ > 


t 


a . if 

.if 






» 

T • 


f* / 


A 

7 




i : 


\ 










•*• r_%. 


(. r. 


^ ' \ 1 
f 

V ‘ 1 ’ w 


-K ^ 


•// . • 


. ' K > . *•'• ’ I 

' ^ ^ '* 'iS" 



vWB 

' *A*‘* 

»1 * - . , ;<Ju*Lsic 










ffl 






